but really:
The number of new jobs, which comes from different data from the U.S. Labor Department, at 120,000, fell just short of economists' expectations of 125,000 new openings. The surprise drop in the unemployment rate reflects both a pick-up in economy activity and growing number of Americans who've given up looking for a job aren't therefore counted as "unemployed." [4] November's figure, 8.6 percent, is actually the proportion of Americans unemployed, "as a percent of the civilian labor force," as per the official definition from the Labor Department (a figure it refers to as "U-3," the official unemployment rate). When considering those that fit that definition as well as discouraged workers (U-4), those marginally attached to the work labor force (U-5) and those that are employed part-time and seeking full-time employment but can't find it, the Labor Department has another statistic, which it refers to as U-6; for the month of November, that figure is at 15.6 percent. The actual number of Americans who have given up a while ago isn't firm, but the latest statistics -- though painted pretty by the Department of Labor -- reveal that November saw 315,000 new Americans abandoning their job hunt. [5] It's hard to tell from the Labor Department's data, but academic research suggests that as workers' long-term unemployment benefits run out, they might either drop out of the workforce or end up finding a job because they intensified their search. This would push down the unemployment rate. U.S. lawmakers are debating whether to extend extra long-term unemployment benefits into 2012, but it is also possible that some people are leaving the workforce even now as their benefits expire. Others might be finding work. Shortly before the November jobs report, economists at Goldman Sachs estimated this factor alone could push the unemployment rate down to 8.6 percent by early 2012 if unemployment benefits are not extended. That estimate also assumes no underlying improvement in labor market conditions. [6]
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